Kindergarten Update

Posted byNatalie King

“I need a cup of coffee this morning.” -Xander (5 years old) 
(for the record, he could not get past the smell and did not actually drink any of it)
We’re 3 weeks into kindergarten and it’s going well! Xander is periodically offended by the fact that it is EVERY DAY (even though week 1 was 3 days and this week was only 4 days). But overall, he is really enjoying himself. He can already count to 10 in french, he regularly shows us his huge muscles he’s been working on in gym class and yesterday he brought Augustus a snack without being asked and when I complimented him, he said, “it’s called empathy” (which was apparently a topic in class that day).
I really like that he spends a lot of time in specialty classes- gym, art, music, theater, french, and library. He has recess twice a day and in a few weeks they will begin working in the teaching kitchen. 

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I also really like the updates that his teacher (and the specialists) are posting on the app. The french teacher posted a cute video and I like to see photos from class from time to time. 
Here’s the most recent update from his teacher (the photos above are from this post). 

Hello again families,

It felt great to be back together as a class! The students are making so much progress with settling into our routines.

I wanted to highlight a multi-day project we completed today. This particular project wove together many different topics and skills.

Part 1: We talked about what it means to be a bucketfiller as part of our classroom culture and social-emotional development discussions.

Part 2: Students then created a small paper filled in with ripped paper pieces that they glued on.

Part 3: They added different precut paper shapes above the bucket as a visual representation of bucketfillers. They were instructed to have 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 of each shape. They worked in partners and moved around each table to complete this.

Part 4: We practiced the correct number formation for the numbers 1-5, and they completed a sheet that showed how many of each shape.

Part 5: They spent time playing “teacher” and “student” – they exchanged projects and quizzed each other on how many of each shape their bucket had. There were a lot of communication skills embedded within this task, such as waiting for a partner to become available, giving clear instructions, complimenting a friend who answered correctly, and kindly redirecting a peer’s incorrect answer. 

Part 6: We added googly eyes and a mouth to the buckets! We talked about different words to describe emotions that our buckets seemed to be expressing with their faces. We got some fun ones like “grumpy”, “serious”, and “overjoyed”! 

We love the way that this joyful project incorporated so many different topics and skills, such as:

  • Following multi-step directions
  • Counting accurately from 1 to 5 (one-to-one correspondence)
  • The initial sound of consonant /b/ for bucketfiller
  • The correct number formation for 1 to 5
  • Vocabulary – Identifying colors, shapes, and feelings 
  • Fine motor skills – ripping paper, gluing, cutting 
  • Working with partners
  • Speaking and listening to peers 

We know that student engagement and achievement both increase with applied, interdisciplinary experiences such as these. It was a pleasure to see this project unfold and watch the many discoveries the kids made throughout the different tasks. We will proudly display these completed buckets on our bulletin board in the classroom!

I love picking him up each afternoon and hearing about his day. He’s learning and growing so fast it’s truly amazing.